At a university seminar last week, a recognised city strategist ended his talk with the words” what is Sydney going to do with Parramatta?”. The question may be “ What is Parramatta going to do with Sydney”. The new Plan for Growing Sydney DOP&E Dec 2014) features a revisionist view of the Sydney metro right out west to the mountains (see attached). The emphasis has been influenced greatly by the considerable voting power of the ‘wild west’ and the strong and sophisticated advocacy machines of such regional centres as Parramatta and Penrith and others. Their position on the map as strategic centres highlights that this is pulling the ‘great divide’ between east and west toward the Blue Mountains. So where is the great divide between east and west of Sydney?

If you asked someone from Rose Bay where the west of Sydney starts, they might say Strathfield? If you ask a Penrith or Parramatta person they would see some humour in this. The perception of the great divide between east and west has been the subject of regional irritation by those cities in the west who are forging a new direction for the face and complexion of Sydney to the Blue Mountains. Part of the realisation of a new vision and identity for the west, should surely start with the question “where exactly is the west of Sydney?.

Townsville is a regional city in Far North Queensland, Australia. It is often described by Queenslanders as ‘the capital of the north’, and enjoys a mult- sector economy which includes, government, defence, tertiary education, resources and tourism, together with one of the major ports in Australia.

In 2003 to 2007 two cityscape precincts in Townsville were subject to intense development stimulation. The Palmer St precinct on one hand was transformed into an active eat street and hotel precinct, whilst the Railway Precinct saw patchy development in the same period, although both precincts were the subject of city visions and stimulus by local authorities.

In this case study, the ensuing phenomenon of ‘prolific building growth’ in these dilapidated cityscapes is explored and explained, by what is proposed as the central force of change – ‘the property development mechanism’.

An explanatory model of the ‘property development mechanism’ is created in the setting of dilapidated cityscapes which are seen as a ‘field of activation’ for the mechanism and its actor ‘the property developer’. The reasons for the different levels of activation are explored, and the findings both support and strengthen the model, and form a basis for future exploration and development of the model.To read about the project in more detail please see Jon’s research page “The Seed in the Cityscape” on www.jondrane.netLink to Summary Of Doctorate

Think tanks and seminars continue to be held to try and understand the changing face of the city and its many forms in the Sydney Basin. This is especially topical in light of the voting power of the west and its dynamic future population projections relative to the east. One graphical model of Sydney based on a geospatial economic lens shows Concord as the ‘centre of gravity of Sydney’

The emergent ‘geo-spatial’ view of the city and other techniques, is grounded in the grinding national statistics of economy and demography.These after all are the foundation statistics of our nation at a macro level, the ABS, census, economic and industry data along with other industry data sets. The resultant analysis and charting of such data can however only ever be as good as the data itself. Whilst we still use the economic or demographic lens as our key visor for the viewing of the city, we will only see it in such terms.

The economic and demographic lens has allowed us to view the city from the stratosphere, through national statistics that were not originally designed to describe the phenomenological changes in the face of the city and its forces and drivers.

Welcome to my new blog and web site. It has been refined to focus on my independent research and advisory profile.

This site is designed to allow prospective clients to understand how I combine my research profile with the analysis of complex construction problems in different situations including legal cases and project situations.

My previous blog which included articles on the city dormancy and property development has been archived and key articles will be revisited here. Please contact us on info@jondrane.net if you need a particular article.

This site also caters and focuses on my research into city dormancy and urban renewal so that students are able to tap into my works. I encourage students of the built environment to continue my work in this area of city dormancy and development.

My non-fiction book collection including my books on the Camino de Santiago are briefly referred to on this web site and will be expanded in another independent web site.